Law and IT: Wildlife Poaching Online

In one professional forum, Dr. Atty. Noel G. Ramiscal was requested to provide information as to how the Internet has been used by environmental criminals to further their activities. Dr. Ramiscal gave these examples:

According to the US Fed News, in May of this year, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigated and had one man arrested for, among others, poaching game with his buddies in Lake Marion Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Polk County during closed season. Among the wild life he unlawfully poached were wild turkey and wild deer. A former convicted felon, his recent criminal activities were unearthed because he brazenly posted pictures of his poaching exploits on the social online site Facebook.

The FWC established an Internet Crime Unit (ICU) that collects and harvests online evidence of criminal activities pertaining to fish, fowl and other wildlife poaching. Elements of this unit made contact with this man and played up to his arrogance to gain his confidence. He then traded pictures of his illegally killed game with the FWC ICU investigators and chatted away in online chatrooms boasting how he killed wild animals. The pieces of online evidence gathered by the FWC ICU people were sufficient enough to cause his arrest for seven felony and six misdemeanor charges.

Cellular phone technology became a crucial source of evidence in the convictions of three people, including a juvenile, in Pennsylvania over two years ago. These criminals stored evidence of their illegal killings of wildlife that included bear, wild raccoon, deer and pheasant on a mobile phone that was lawfully confiscated by law enforcement officers.

In another interesting case reported by the Ecology, Environment & Conservation Business, one individual used an online auction site to sell wildlife “parts”, i.e., feathers from legally protected fowl. The individual advertised the feathers of several endangered and protected birds for sale, which included those of turkey vulture, wild turkey, blue jay, Canadian goose, red shouldered hawk and blackbird. The Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Office discovered the unlawful activities of this individual through one of its officers and it purchased several feathers through online bidding. The feathers were sent for morphologic examination and the online seller was charged for several counts of unlawful possession and sale of wildlife and protected birds.

These cases should serve as examples of some new ways for Philippine legal enforcement and environment officials to harness the Internet technologies to go after offenders who desecrate, pillage, deplete and deprive Mother Nature, and current and future generations of Philippine citizens of irreplaceable protected and endangered wildlife.

Through his advocacies on electronic data and electronic evidence, Dr. Ramiscal continues to engage stakeholders in an examination of their conceptions about electronic data and their applications and implications for many areas of the law and Life as well.

Lawbytes: Of Infrastructures, the FEF and the CICT Abolition

The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) which is a non-government organization headed by the indefatigable IT entrepreneur, Calixto Chikiamco, is devoted to “advancing the cause of economic and political liberty, good governance, secure and well-defined property rights, and market oriented reforms”. To establish and further its vision and philosophy of balancing economic growth with the political freedoms of the citizenry, it has a lecture series where the movers and shakers of various sectors are invited to give talks on important developments and projects that have great impacts on both civic and economic lives of the Philippine public.

It was a great honor for Dr. Atty. Ramiscal to be invited by FEF’s President, Mr. Chikiamco, as the latter’s guest on June 29, 2011 at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club’s Fairways Room, to witness the eye opening lecture of current Department of Public Waterways and Highways (DPWH) Secretary, Rogelio Singson. Secretary Singson presented the DPWH National Infrastructure Plan to the crowd consisting of economic and legal luminaries including Mahar Mangahas, Gary Teves, Raul Fabella and Atty. Raphael Perpetuo “Popo” Lotilla (the former Legal Ethics teacher of Dr. Ramiscal).

Secretary Singson talked about his campaign of stemming or even preventing the commission of corrupt practices within and without the DPWH. One of the more enlightening things he divulged is the practice of politicians who try to secure infrastructure contracts for Php 50,000,000.00 or less so that the projects will only be approved by low ranking government officials and there are practically no transparency and accountability measures that act as checks and balances against the misuse and misappropriation of the public funds used for the construction of public infrastructures subject of these contracts. Consequently, the Philippine public ends up with deficient and even unsafe public roads and highways.

Secretary Singson's talk at FEF Wack Wack

Secretary Singson’s lecture made it very clear the important role that information communications technologies (ICT) play in the advancement and safety of public infrastructures. The DPWH is supposedly the most advanced government agency in the use of ICTs. He regaled the audience with his account that the agency’s electronic mapping of the streets and roads of the Philippines had become so efficient that he can download to his iPad specific street locations and their road status (e.g., finished, unfinished, unsafe) and show contractors and politicians who are lobbying for the re-construction or the construction of the same roads, if these roads truly need to be repaired or touched. The electronic mapping therefore reduces the chance for corruption. Another significant thing that he shared with the audience is that the DPWH had actually received funding from ADB and some other organizations to implement an electronic monitoring system for the safety of Philippine roads, and that is the iRAP. Lastly, Secretary Singson said that with the National Infrastructure Plan in place, the DPWH had actually realized savings of more than Php 2,500,000,000.00.

The lecture of Secretary Singson came at a time when the Philippine government’s vision for an ICT empowered Philippines has been placed in grave doubt.

The Commission on Information Communications and Technology (CICT) was abolished by Executive Order No. 47 and its functions are now relegated to an office unit at the Department of Science and Technology.

On the same day that Secretary Singson delivered his FEF lecture, the CICT rendered its “swan song” which was the unveiling of the Philippine Development Strategy (PDS) that contained programs geared for the digital advancement of the Philippine people over the next few years. It is unclear what will happen to the PDS now. There is a move by certain organizations and stakeholders of asking for the reinstatement of the CICT. For more information on this matter, please look at:

http://restorecict.blogspot.com/

With the convergence of government programs and initiatives from the private sector utilizing more ICTs to bring progress to the Philippines and its peoples on many fronts, it is still the hope that the “conspiracy of trust” in a “digitally empowered Philippines” which is what the PDS attempts to achieve, will come to pass. All the best to the former CICT Chair, Atty. Ivan Uy, its Commissioners, particularly, Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim, Ms. Trish Abejo, and all of CICT’s capable people.

For its part in crusading for, and working to uplift the economic status and consciousness of the Philippine citizenry, kudos to the FEF, to Pres. Chikiamco, the FEF Executive Director, Atty. Balatbat III, Atty. Tiamson who kindly accommodated Dr. Ramiscal’s request for pictures of the lecture, Secretary Singson, and all the people who were in attendance last June 29, 2011. Regards also to Dr. Nilo Valdecantos, the Tourism Consultant of Laguna Province, who had a “working dinner” that night. Till the next FEF lecture!